Safe and Sound
by PrinceJai
Summary: A week of storms create a near fatal accident for two CSI.


Miami was a quiet night. The summer breeze carried the day scents of baked asphalt and salt water into the twilight. Seagull cries mixed with the hum of traffic traveling the causeway.

Grains of sand, punctuated with shards of rocks grinded into the soft skin of her face. The coarse concrete beneath her hands was damp and smelled of stagnant water. Rushing water superseded the surge of adrenaline as the CSI became aware of her immediate surroundings.

Instinctively, Calleigh braced her hands against the concrete to push herself up. The abrupt motion shifted her down and she felt cold water tug at her heeled boots. Blonde hair swept out as she turned onto her back, digging her elbows into the concrete to end her descent. The dark sky dipped and Calleigh struggled to calm her breathing while the world around her spun lazily. The blood painting half her face did little to help.

Her cheek burned from where it had been pressed against the concrete. Taking a deeper breath, Calleigh closed her eyes, willing everything to stop spinning. The dampness soaking into the thin fabric of her blouse sleeve sent a sense of nausea down the back of her throat.

Opening her eyes, Calleigh inhaled sharply. Through the street light lit night, she could see the hummer she had been driving was half submerged in the raging water filling the drainway.

Slowly, Calleigh pulled her feet out of the water, drawing her legs up. The bank she was balanced on was slanted enough to make getting to the top difficult. They needed to get out though.

They?

Panic sent her scrambling to sit up fully, nearly sending herself back into the flood waters. Calleigh breathed heavily as her eyes flicked across the drainway, searching for her friend. To her left, half laying in the water was Ryan.

He was nearly cloaked in the shadow of a maintenance bridge that stretched across the drainway. Pieces of their predicament flashed through Calleigh's mind, a pulse of pain coming and going with them. She must have hit her head when they crashed. That didn't sound right to her though.

The rough concrete and her hasty movements tore the skin on her hands and knees. The dresspants she had just bought were completely shredded across the knees when she finally reached Ryan.

Calleigh grabbed the back of his jacket and shirt, tugging him out of the water. Rolling him onto his back, Calleigh pressed her fingers against his cold skin. No beat of a living heart pulsed under her fingers.

"Ryan?" Calleigh cupped his face. His chest was still and water trickled out of his mouth.

"No. No. Ryan!" Calleigh flew into action, tilting his head back and using her thumb to open his lax mouth. A blade of grass stuck to the inside of his mouth and Calleigh fleetingly wondered how paramedics kept calm as she flicked it away.

The salt on Ryan's gelid lips stung the cut on her own. Breathe out. Again.

Lacing her fingers, Calleigh pushed down on his chest. Thirty.

Water droplets clung to his lashes and the stubble across his chin. Breathe out. Again.

Darker blotches on his red shirt nearly blended in the near darkness. Thirty.

Breathe out.

Breathe.

"Just breathe, Ryan." Calleigh whispered, beginning another set of compressions. Tears merged with the blood tracing the curves of her face. Breathe out.

Abruptly, water bubbled out of Ryan's mouth. His body convulsed as it dispelled water too quickly through his mouth and warm water filled his nose. Jerking his knees up, Ryan struggled to curl into himself before Calleigh helped him sit up. Ryan gagged against the uncontrollable bouts of discharged water. Reflex tears stung his eyes and distorted the night concealed shapes around him. Calleigh clutched his arm with one hand and used the other to brace his back despite her pants being soaked.

The violent heaving subsided to trickles of water running out of his nose and mouth. With a hiccuping breath that sent his body shuddering, Ryan sagged against Calleigh. She gingerly wrapped her arms around his shoulder, carding a hand through his wet hair.

Her heart drummed steadily in his ear and Ryan sucked in shallow breathes in time to it.

"You 'kay?" Ryan asked once his lungs didn't feel on the verge of wilting. Calleigh's breath tickled his too cool skin as she gave a bewildered laugh that sounded more like a gasp.

"Am I-? Yeah, I'm fine, Ryan."

Hearing the quivering in her voice, Ryan tilted his head back, suppressing a cough the movement caused. Her tear clouded green eyes met his wandering hazel eyes. Calleigh smiled weakly before pressing her cheek to his hair, her face turned away from his.

"I'm fine. We're both fine." She murmured.

"We'll be okay. You'll be okay." Calleigh added a moment later, holding Ryan just a bit tighter.

He said nothing in return, wet, weak and shuddering coughs filing the silence.

"Ryan!" Calleigh's uncharacteristically panicked voice startled Ryan. He coughed weakly, peering through heavy lashes to see damp blonde hair framing Calleigh's stricken face. In the silence she had drifted before realizing the body against hers was no longer shivering and coughing.

"What?" Ryan mumbled as he was pulled upright. Almost protectively, Calleigh curled herself around Ryan, one knee drawn up to brace his back with a hand pressed against his chest. She could feel the sluggish beat under her hand.

Ryan's wheezing breathes punctuated their need to find help. Night had since settled and Calleigh was struck with the dread of not knowing how long they had been down in the drainway. Keeping her hand on Ryan, Calleigh undid her heeled boots, letting them tumble into the rushing flood water.

"What're you doing?" Ryan asked, his voice scarcely more than a whisper.

"We need to get up to the road," Calleigh explained patiently, "I lost my cell somewhere down there." She gestured to the submerged hummer.

"Oh."

"Yeah" Calleigh sighed. The strain from leaning down to undo her shoes left her feeling lightheaded and her vision blurred in and out of focus.

"Cal?" She met his hazel eyes, both filled with exhaustion and fear for the other.

"Come on." Calleigh replied with a nod. Gradually, they half crawled, half dragged each other to the top of the drainway. The concrete tore further into Calleigh's already skinned hands and knees, catching her toes and scuffing the smooth skin of her feet. Ryan's hands were beginning to bleed and he scraped his forehead after leaning down to quickly to catch Calleigh. The four feet of slanted concrete between them and the top seemed to stretch out for eternity.

With a last surge of strength, Calleigh and Ryan heaved themselves up onto the sidewalk overlooking the drainway. Leaning into each other, they sagged against the walkway railing. For several minutes their ragged breathing and the wild water below filled the night.

Then Calleigh noticed something was missing.

With a jolt her eyes flew open and she saw Ryan's head on her shoulder and his chest unmoving.

"Ryan?" Calleigh maneuvered his head onto her lap. His lips were tinged blue and skin too white from not enough blood. A stain on his shirt was bigger now and when Calleigh pressed a hand to it, it came back slick with red.

"Ryan?" Her voice cracked with suppressed tears. Bloodied fingers left streaked prints as she searched for a pulse. Ryan's heart beat faintly and Calleigh nearly cried in relief.

Tilting his head back and pinching his nose, Calleigh began rescue breathing. For the second time that night. Why did it have to be them? Why him? Ryan was one of the few people she thought of as a genuine friend. I can't lose another friend, Calleigh thought helplessly, not like this.

Calleigh startled when the piercing wail of emergency sirens sifted through her frantic thoughts. Her lungs burned from sharing too much air and Ryan still wasn't breathing, but she gave a faltering smile anyways. Help would be there soon. They would be okay. They had to be okay.

* * *

Ryan breathed deeply, enjoying the sensation and the ease of which he could. The moment passed and he cracked an eye open to scope the room. His uncle had left to grab a coffee from down the street and the last of the nurses for the hour were finally gone. Inhaling deeply once more, Ryan wriggled himself upright and set about undoing the wires tethering him to various machines. His throat still burned from the removal of the breathing tube. It matched the burning pulsating from his broken wrist.

Free of the wires, Ryan swung his legs over the side of the too narrow hospital bed. His uncle had been kind enough to get him some thin sleep pants and doubly kind to help him put them on. The nurses had given Ryan a baggy white shirt after he had complained enough about the mortification of waking up naked. His uncle had laughed and in turn Ryan smiled at his own ridiculousness.

The floor felt cool and refreshing against his feverish skin. Ryan knew it wasn't overly brilliant to have disconnected the antibiotic line, let alone moving. However, he had yet to see Calleigh. The previous day when he had awoken, Horatio had visited and told him Calleigh had sustained minor injuries. Later, when Natalia and Alexx had come in to smother him concern, he discovered Calleigh had a concussion. Alexx assured him she was alright and the doctors were handling it well. Eric had told him the same thing. Calleigh was alright.

Ryan wanted to see for himself. Until now the nurses and his uncle had done a good job of keeping him still.

The door creaked loudly in the fairly empty hallway. Another patient wheeled past in their wheelchair and a couple nurses walked down the connected hallway. Ryan kept close to the wall for support and padded barefoot down the hall to Calleigh's room. It was a few rooms away, almost at the complete opposite end of the hall. Passing floor to ceiling windows, Ryan paused for a moment to gaze out over the city and watch the setting sun. It cast a warm wash of orange across the landscape. Smiling briefly, Ryan continued down the hallway, thanking everyone above he got to see another day.

The door to Calleigh's room was ajar. Slipping inside before anyone caught him out of bed, Ryan closed the door behind. The blonde CSI was asleep, face paler than normal and dark smudges accented her resting lashes. She was still one of the most beautiful ladies Ryan had ever met. Her hair had been neatly brushed and swept to one side, showing off a too white gauze patch on her temple. Ryan briefly wondered if Eric had helped her brush her hair.

Settling into an uncomfortably stuffed chair, Ryan watched the sun sink into the horizon, lost in thoughts. The night before last was an assortment of loud voices, too much water and tear stained lips.

The road was beginning to flash flood in torrential rain. Calleigh had been determined to keep on their suspect regardless. On a good day she drove like a mad woman anyways and Ryan was not ashamed to say he was well acquainted with the safety bar. She couldn't have know though. The suspect had left their car behind, a silver GMC, angled across their lane. Not realizing yet they were on a low bridge, Calleigh had jerked the wheel to avoid the car. Instead it sent the hummer flipping over the concrete barrier and into the flooded drainway. Ryan's window had been cracked, then broken from the two points of impact. He barely had the time to suck in a breath and hold it.

Calleigh had unbuckled herself and kicked the windshield where it had spiderweb cracked. Despite the nasty gash across her forehead from the steering wheel, she had been present enough to realize Ryan was stuck. The seatbelt had jammed and wouldn't come undone. Ryan nearly swore right then to never wear a seatbelt except it had been the only thing keeping him from dying on impact.

Acting quickly, Calleigh had pulled a switchblade from her boot and cut the seatbelt. Ryan wondered through the haze of not enough air where and when she bought a switchblade. In her haste to pull him through the broken windshield, Calleigh had banged her head against the frame. Ryan had winced for her.

The following sequence of events were still fuzzy and disjointed. Ryan thought a few seconds after getting out of the hummer a branch or a piece of metal had collided with him. The force sweeping him out of Calleigh's grasp.

What he did remember with clarity was Calleigh had saved his life. And she was really strong, as in Xena warrior strong.

"You think I'm Xena?"

Ryan started at the tired voice breaking the silence. Pulling his gaze into focus, Ryan met her green eyes, a smile touching the corners of lips in response to the one warming her face.

"Uh, hi."

"What are you doing out of bed?" Calleigh asked quietly, noticing the cuts scattered across his pale face in the faint light.

Ryan ducked his head, fiddling with a thread loose on the hem of his shirt. "I wanted to be sure you were okay."

Closing her eyes, Calleigh smiled sweetly. "I'm alright. They said I could leave tomorrow."

Ryan nodded in acknowledgement. They slipped into a peaceful silence, broken up by the ambiance of nurses walking by, machines humming and a raised voice down the hall. Ryan wondered if it was his uncle berating the nurses for letting their patient bust out.

"Thank you." Ryan said suddenly, his voice sounding too loud in the quiet room.

"For what?" Calleigh asked gently, opening her weary eyes.

"For-for saving me. I would- wouldn't have made it if you..." He trailed off, realizing fully what could have happened.

A bandaged hand found his and held it tightly.

"Your welcome," Calleigh spoke softly, "Just promise me you won't scare me like that again."

Ryan swallowed thickly. He had never been the one to see her vulnerable like this before and to see it now made Ryan unsure.

Rubbing his thumb across the gauze on her hand, he said quietly,

"I... promise I won't ever do it intentionally. Okay?"

"Okay." Calleigh smiled faintly as she sunk back into the pillows.

Giving her hand a squeeze, Ryan stood up, his body protesting at the change in position. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Ryan murmured a 'thank you' once more before slipping out into the hallway. He owed her everything and it was not something he would take lightly.

* * *

I no own CSI:Miami. If I did there would have been some epic bromance between Ryan, Eric and Jake with a better representation of Eric/Calleigh. (And Marisol would still be alive). Another disclaimer: I have no idea if there are drainways in Florida. I live in the Midwest and we have drainways everywhere. Some of which are very deep.

Pls R&R, bc I have nothing else to look forward to.


End file.
